GOSHEN, Ind. – After a doubleheader sweep on Sunday, the Maple Leafs baseball team dropped the final two games in their series against Bethel as a part of the US Highway 20 Cup. Despite a seven-run eighth inning by the Leafs in game one, Bethel held on to win 13-10 before a more dominant 12-1 finish in game two.
 
The leadoff home run by Andrew Miranda started the scoring for Bethel, and they continued scoring in the next three innings. Thomas Dolan and Jeremy Wiersema homered in the second, and Alex Stout hit one over the fence in the third.
 
At the end of three innings, the Pilots already had eight hits, while Goshen still had none. That changed in the fourth when Jenner Rodammer tripled to right-center with one out, but he didn't score. It was 7-0 after the fourth.
 
The fifth inning was the first time Goshen held Bethel to no runs. It was also the inning that the Maple Leafs got on the board. Evan Creager hit a two-run shot to center that scored Joseph Cerda and cut the deficit to five.
 
Bethel tacked on a few more runs in the sixth and seventh, and the Leafs trailed 10-2 come the bottom of the eighth. But then came a plethora of runs.
 
The Maple Leafs sent 13 batters to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, scored seven runs, and added five hits and three walks. Bethel committed three errors in the inning – they didn't have any leading up to that point. The big inning cut Bethel's lead to 10-9, but Goshen left the bases loaded to end the inning.
 
The Pilots put up three runs in the top of the ninth. Peyton Smith scored from a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth, but the comeback came up short, and the Maple Leafs lost 13-10. Frank Plesac earned the win on the mound – throwing seven innings and allowing two earned runs on four hits. He struck out six and walked two.
 
Zane Gadbois started and took the loss for Goshen. In 3.2 innings, he walked none but allowed six earned runs and nine hits. Creager and Gabe Kermode had multiple hits. Creager totaled two runs and three RBIs. In the three-hour and twenty-one minute game, the teams combined for 23 runs, 28 hits, 13 walks, and seven errors.
 
Unlike the first game, most of Bethel's scoring in game two came in the later innings.
 
Eli MacDonald hit a two-RBI double in the first, and the visitors led 2-0. Morgan Baker scored in the second on a fielding error to cut the lead in half, but that would be all the scoring for the Leafs in game two.
 
MacDonald hit another RBI double in the third and had two more RBIs in the sixth on a single to right. Jake Schalasky joined in on the scoring with a two-run shot in the sixth. The Pilots put up two runs in the fifth, five in the sixth, and two in the seventh on the way to a 12-1 win.
 
Sullivan Swingley pitched all seven innings for BU (17-23, 11-13 CL). He had five strikeouts, no walks, and allowed no earned runs and six hits. Kaleb Bodfish had the loss for Goshen – allowing five earned in five innings. Camm Nickell was 2-3 and Rodammer and Creager each had a double.
 
Goshen (7-27, 4-20 CL) returns tomorrow, April 12, to host Grace Christian at 2:00. The non-conference matchup will be a doubleheader, and both games will be seven innings.